UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM

Centre for Particle Theory

M.Sc. in Particles, Strings and

Cosmology

2020–2021

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

AND
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
Contents

1 Introduction 4

2 The Centre for Particle Theory 6

3 Getting started 7

4 Prerequisites 8

5 The MSc Degree 11

6 Description of Courses & Recommended Books 19

QUANTUM FIELD THEORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

INTRODUCTORY FIELD THEORY (24 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

QUANTUM FIELD THEORY I & II (8+16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SUPERSYMMETRY (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

GENERAL RELATIVITY AND COSMOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

GENERAL RELATIVITY (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

COSMOLOGY I (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

COSMOLOGY II (8 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

NEUTRINO PHYSICS (8 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (8 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

GAUGE FIELD THEORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

GROUP THEORY (12 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

THE STANDARD MODEL (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

RENORMALISATION GROUP (8 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

2
 AMPLITUDES (8 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

NON-PERTURBATIVE PHYSICS (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

SUPERSTRING THEORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

CONFORMAL FIELD THEORY (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

STRING THEORY (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

PHENOMENOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS (16 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

HIGGS PHENOMENOLOGY (8 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

FLAVOUR PHYSICS AND EFFECTIVE FIELD THEORIES (16 lectures) 40

OPTIONAL COURSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING (8 lectures) . . . . . . 41

A Plagiarism form 42

3
1 Introduction

Welcome to the MSc in Particles, Strings and Cosmology!

The aim of the course is to bring students in twelve months to the frontier of theoret-
ical high-energy physics. You can look forward to an enjoyable year with exciting and
demanding lectures given by leading experts in the field.

This booklet contains information specific to the MSc in Particles, Strings and Cosmology.
For information concerning general University regulations, examination procedures etc.
you should consult the Faculty Handbooks and the University Calendar, which provide
the definitive versions of University policy.

If at any time you would like to discuss aspects of your course, or if there are any questions
about the Department which this booklet leaves unanswered, please contact the Course
Director (Dr. Nabil Iqbal, CM240) or your Supervisor. For administrative queries, please
contact the Postgraduate secretary (Gemma Dart, CM 201).

Much information about the Department and, in particular, about the Centre for Particle
Theory can be found on the web at

http://www.dur.ac.uk/mathematical.sciences (Mathematics Department Homepage)

http://www.dur.ac.uk/physics (Physics Department Homepage)

http://www.cpt.dur.ac.uk/ (Centre for Particle Theory Homepage)

http://www.ippp.dur.ac.uk/ (Institute for Particle Phyics Phenomenology Homepage)

This particular year will be affected by the presence of Covid-19. We encourage everyone
to be aware of university and government guidelines related to the virus. The Durham
University Covid Response web page is here.

https://www.dur.ac.uk/coronavirus/ (Durham University Covid Response)

We will operate according to university guidelines; as of this writing this permits (some)
face-to-face teaching. However if you would like to avoid all face-to-face teaching for the
whole term, please contact the course director Dr. Nabil Iqbal.

Ph.D. students please note:

Although you are not registered for the MSc course, it is important that you take the
lectures seriously, as they will be the basis for your further study. In particular, the
Centre expects all students registered for the PhD to achieve an average mark on the
four end-of-term exams of at least 70%. If you miss this target, you will be required to
demonstrate satisfactory progress by completing a small project during the summer term,
and this together with your exam results will be used to decide your progression into the

4
second year.

5
2 The Centre for Particle Theory

The Durham research group in theoretical high energy physics has members in both of
the departments of Mathematical Sciences and Physics. It is one of the largest and most
active groups in the United Kingdom, with interests which range over a wide spectrum
of topics associated with the field of elementary particles. This is reflected in the variety
of lecture courses and dissertation topics available in the MSc programme. Durham also
hosts the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP). The Institute is located
in the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics, which will also be the location for all
graduate lectures.

Whether members of Physics, Mathematics or the IPPP, all researchers/students in high

energy theory belong to the Centre for Particle Theory (CPT) which is a close-knit group.
Besides lectures together there is a series of CPT colloquia. In addition there are several
series of weekly seminars with external and internal speakers organised around more
specialised topics. You are strongly encouraged to go to as many of these as possible as a
useful way of acquainting yourself with areas of current research. More information about
the seminar schedules can be found on the following web page at

http://www.dur.ac.uk/cpt/seminars/

Other events in the IPPP and Mathematics department can be found at

http://www.ippp.dur.ac.uk/workshops

http://www.dur.ac.uk/mathematical.sciences/events/

6
3 Getting started

There will be an induction and welcoming event on Thursday October 3; you will receive
more specific information by email. This will be a chance to meet members of the CPT
and to pick up information on the postgraduate lecture courses and other matters.

There are several administrative matters that must be seen to at the beginning of the
academic year. It would be wise to complete them before lectures begin on Monday
October 5th.

• New postgraduate students will need to obtain their campus cards. They are necessary
to gain access to the main Library and a to number of other University buildings. They
are also needed to loan books from the Main Library. At the same time you should be
given your user name and password for a computer account with the University’s IT
Service.

• Register for departmental computing facilities (see below).

Libraries

There are a couple of libraries which CPT students find useful:

• The Main University Library is located on the Science site close to both the De-
partments of Mathematical Sciences and Physics. It contains a large selection of books
and journals of interest to particle physicists. To loan books you will require a Campus
Card.

• The Collingwood Library is located in the Mathematics Department on the same

floor as the Maths Office. It contains a fair number of books about theoretical physics.

Computing Facilities

The main university computing facilities are run by the Computing and Information
Services (CIS). You should have been registered automatically for an CIS account when
completing your University Registration and obtaining your Campus Card (see above).
In case of any problems or if you need any further information about the University’s
computing facilities, you should visit the IT Help-Desk which is situated on the ground
floor of the University Library. The University maintains a number of clusters of PC’s
and Unix machines. One such cluster is located on the ground floor of the same building
as the Mathematical Sciences.

7
4 Prerequisites

Students entering the MSc course are supposed to be familar with a number of topics,
which would normally be covered in an undergraduate degree. They fall into two cate-
gories, namely elementary mathematics and elementary physics. It would be a very good
idea to recapitulate these topics before starting the course, because familiarity with these
concepts will be assumed.

1. Elementary Mathematics:

• Linear algebra: Scalar products of vectors, vector products. Matrices, multi-

plication, inversion, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors diagonalisation
by change of basis, orthogonal and unitary matrices, diagonalisation of sym-
metric matrices by orthogonal matrices.
• Complex numbers: addition, multiplication, complex conjugate. Complex
functions, differentiation, Cauchy-Riemann equations. Elementary functions:
exp(z), log(z), cos(z), cosh(z), etc. Cuts and branches. Cauchys integral for-
mula. Evaluation of integrals (and series) by calculus of residues. Analytic
continuation.
• Elementary group theory: axioms of groups, examples: GL(n), SL(n),
O(n).
• Functions of several variables: Continuity. Partial differentiation. Chain
rule. Taylor polynomial in two variables. The gradient and directional deriva-
tives of a function. Line integrals of functions and vector fields. The diver-
gence and the curl of a vector field. Index notation, summation convention.
Epsilon(ijk) and delta(ij). Local and global extrema of functions. Extrema of
functions with constraints.
• Multiple Integration: iterated sums, double and triple integrals by repeated
integration, volume enclosed by surface, Jacobians and change of variables.
Line, surface and volume integrals. Stokes and divergence theorems.
• PDEs: Solution of Poissons and Laplaces Equations: Uniqueness of solution
of Laplaces and Poissons equations. General solution of Poissons equation.
Greens function. Simple examples of solution of Laplaces equation by separa-
tion of variables.
• Fourier Series: Orthogonal functions and Fourier series. Convergence, peri-
odic extension, sine and cosine series, half-range expansion. Fourier transform
and inverse, convolution theorem. Solution of heat equation on n-dimensional
Euclidean space using Fourier transform and construction of heat kernel. Con-
nection between heat kernel and Greens function. Laplace transform.

2. Elementary physics:

• Mechanics: Frames of reference, Newtons laws in vector form, forces, mass,

momentum, gravitational force, projectiles, Lorentz force and charged particles
inconstant electromagnetic fields. Concepts of energy and angular momentum.
Simple harmonic motion and oscillations about a stable equilibrium. Damped

8
 oscillations and resonance. Central forces and the use of energy and angu-
lar momentum to study planetary motion. Waves and strings, including the
derivation of the wave equation for small amplitude vibrations and its solution
by separation of variables. Energy, energy density, energy carried by wave.
• Lagrangian Mechanics: Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics: Hamiltons
principle in dynamics. Generalised coordinates and momenta. Derivation of
Lagranges equations. Generalised forces. Conservative forces. Ignorable coor-
dinates and conservation laws. Noethers theorem. Systems with constraints
Hamiltons equations. Formulation in terms of Poisson brackets. Small oscil-
lations of systems of particles: Positions of equilibrium and stability. Normal
modes of oscillation and normal coordinates. Stationary properties of frequen-
cies of systems with constraints. Basic variational calculus.
• Special Relativity: Inertial frames. Speed of light. Events. Spacetime.
Time dilation and length contraction. Lorentz transformations. Standard
Lorentz boosts. Composition of velocities. Doppler effect. Group structure
of standard Lorentz boosts. Four vectors: Minkowski spacetime. Lorentz and
Poincare groups. Worldline and light cone. Causality. Proper time, velocity,
acceleration. Space-time vectors and tensors. Mass-energy equivalence. Ein-
steins relation. Zero-mass particles. Systems of free particles: Conservation of
4-momentum. Centre-of-mass frame. Collision processes.
• Classical Electromagnetism: Maxwells equations with sources. Potentials
and gauge invariance. Wave equation. Energy and momentum conservation
(including energy density, Poynting vector, stress tensor). Plane waves. Po-
larisation. Retarded potentials. Special Relativistic Formulation of Electro-
magnetism: invariances of Maxwells equations, the equations with microscopic
sources expressed as tensor equations in Minkowski spacetime. Relativistic
equation of motion for a charged particle in an external electromagnetic field.
• Quantum Mechanics: Photo-electric effect, atomic spectra, wave-particle
duality, uncertainty principle.Vectors in Hilbert space, linear operators, hermi-
tian operators, eigenvalues, complete sets, expectation values, commutation re-
lations, observables and commuting operators, symmetries and spectra. Dirac
notation. Schroedinger and Heisenberg pictures. Position operator, Harmonic
Oscillator, creation-annihilation operators. Angular momentum, spin represen-
tations. Time–dependent and time–independent Schroedinger equation. Prob-
ability interpretation. Currents. Plane-waves, spreading of a wave-packet.
Perturbation theory, interaction picture.

In addition, there are a number of things which you may have studied, but if you haven’t
it would be a good idea to read about before you come because these will be developed
in greater depth at the beginning of the course:

3. Advanced topics:

• General Relativity: gravity as geometry, equivalence principle. Differen-

tial Manifolds: spacetime as a manifold, coordinates and coordinate transfor-
mations, tangent vectors, tensors under general co-ordinate transformations.

9
 Metric: distance relationships, light cones. Covariant Derivative: parallel
transport, connection coefficients, differentiating tensors, metric connection,
geodesics. Curvature: Riemann tensor, characterisation of flat space, paral-
lel transport around closed curves, commutation formulae, Bianchi identity,
Einstein tensor, geodesic deviation. Einsteins equations, linearized theory and
Newtonian limit, Einstein–Hilbert action.
• Quantum Field Theory: Quantisation of free scalar fields: Multi-particle
quantum mechanics, canonical quantisation of free scalar fields, Fock space,
anti-particles, propagators, causality. Evolution operators, perturbative ex-
pansion, Wicks theorem, Feynman diagrams in position and momentum space,
LSZ reduction, scattering matrix, cross sections.
• Statistical Mechanics: Thermodynamics: Thermal equlibrium, the laws of
thermodynamics. Equations of state, ideal gas law. Classical statistical me-
chanics: Statistical basis of thermodynamics: microstates, macrostates and the
thermodynamics limit. Ideal gas. Gibbs paradox and entropy. Microcanonical,
canonical and grand-canonical ensembles. Distributions and identical particles:
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. Bose and Fermi distributions.

10
5 The MSc Degree

Overview

The MSc course is organised in three modules: two modules of lecture courses and a
dissertation counting as the third module. Each module must be separately passed in
order to successfully complete the course.

The first lecture course module ranges from October-December, followed by two exam-
inations in January; the second module spans January-March, followed by another two
examinations in April.

The remaining six-month period (April-September) is occupied with the preparation of

the dissertation. The dissertation is not normally expected to be the report of publishable,
original research you have done yourself; rather, it is an independent investigation, guided
by your supervisor, of the literature surrounding a special topic. The purpose of this part
of the programme is to assist you to develop creative and critical thinking, the ability to
assemble material from several sources and to write an extended report. The dissertation
should give a coherent account of the topic, presented in an original, well organised and
appropriate manner.

Please note that you will be required to submit a signed plagiarism form, without which
your dissertation will not be assessed. It is attached to this document as an appendix.

In addition to the three modules we will organize a set of advanced lectures in the Easter
term (May-June) which you can attend voluntarily and which will not be examined.

Details of the lecture courses and guidelines and regulations for the preparation of the
dissertation are given below.

This year is unique due to the presence of Covid-19 and the requirements of
social distancing, rendering impossible a course with the usual sort of face-to-
face lectures. We have constructed a blended approach that combines some
face-to-face instruction with online learning. The course has been constructed so
that face-to-face instruction can be taken online if required.

Lectures for at least the first half of the course (October-December) will take place in this
form; you will receive information about the format of the second (Epiphany) half later.

The Courses

The teaching has three components:

• The lectures: lectures this year will be held asynchronously. Our lecturers have
prepared a combination of pre-recorded lectures and guided reading, available on

11
 DUO; these have some of the flavor and pacing of blackboard instruction, but are
designed so that you can work through them independently. They are timetabled
in green on the timetable. Each timetabled lecture has a precise online component
on DUO, and we encourage you to work through it at the scheduled time.

• The surgeries: these are a new component to the course this year. Each of these is
a small (5-6 person) real-time session with the lecturer for the course, one hour a
week for each course. You should think of this as a meeting with a your supervisor;
be prepared, take the opportunity to ask questions about the material, and discuss
difficulties and interesting points with the lecturer. If circumstances permit, some
of these surgeries will take place face-to-face in a socially distanced manner, while
others will take place over Zoom. These are only for MSc students: all MSc stu-
dents will be divided into two cohorts, and you should only attend the face-to-face
instruction for your cohort. See further details below.

• The tutorials: these are worked problem sessions held by tutors over Zoom; each
course has one hour of tutorial a week. These are for both MSc and PhD students.

To summarize: each week between the four courses your real-time instruction will be
four hours of real-time “surgeries” (face-to-face or on Zoom) and four hours of real-time
“tutorials” (on Zoom). You will also of course spend time watching recorded lectures and
working through asynchronous lecture material.

Surgery Details

For the purposes of the surgeries, MSc students will be divided into two cohorts, A and
B. You will be informed of your cohort. Some of the surgeries take place face-to-face in
the IPPP Seminar Room (OC 218), and some are held online via Zoom; the timetable
will be placed on DUO.

The timetable has been built so that a face-to-face surgery is always immediately followed
or preceded by an online surgery for the other cohort. If you do not wish to attend a
face-to-face surgery one week, for any reason at all – e.g. if you are feeling ill or are
required to self-isolate – then you can feel free to attend the online surgery for the other
cohort. For health and safety reasons, only attend the face-to-face surgery for
your own cohort. The surgeries are only for MSc students.

If you would prefer to always attend online surgeries, and therefore have no face-to-face
teaching, please contact the course director, Dr. Nabil Iqbal. You do not need to justify
this decision.

Finally, note that some courses do not have any face-to-face surgeries. We stress that the
presence of face-to-face teaching is subject to change depending on real-time data such
as the prevalence of the virus and the health of members of the community. Regularly
consult the timetable for surgeries on DUO, as they are subject to change.

12
Overall Structure

The exact timetable for the course can be found on DUO. In our timetables we often use
a peculiar week numbering scheme, where for example week 1 refers to the first teaching
week of the academic year. The precise translation to Gregorian calendar dates can be
found at

https://www.dur.ac.uk/dates/

We also often refer to the two modules using the nomenclature of the university: the
lecture for the first module then take place in the Michaelmas term and the lectures for
the second module in the Epiphany term.

As you can see from the timetable, the lectures for each module are split into two teaching
blocks four weeks. In more detail:

• Michaelmas Term (Monday 5th October - Friday 11th December)

is ten weeks long, and there will be teaching in weeks 1-4 (starting on Mondays) and
weeks 6-9. There will be a break from lectures in week 5, during which students will
be expected to try to revise material from the first four weeks, and to complete any
homework assignments set by the lecturers. Michaelmas term’s courses will be assessed
in two examinations tentatively scheduled on
Wednesday January 6th, 2021 and Friday January 8th, 2021.

• Epiphany Term: Monday 11th January - Friday 11th March

is nine weeks long, and there will be teaching in weeks 11-14 and 16-19. There will be a
revision break in week 15. The two exams on the second term’s courses are tentatively
scheduled on
Wednesday April 21st, 2021 and Friday April 23rd, 2021.

Each module spans multiple courses or topics. These individual lecture courses vary in
length. Typically they contain 16 lectures but there are a few cases with either 8 lectures
or 24 lectures.

Details about all the individual courses are given later in this booklet, in particular
information about useful books and other reading materials.

It is expected that students will attend all the lecture courses in the Michaelmas
Term. Furthermore, the students are expected to choose six courses from the courses
in Epiphany term.

All students are required to ‘keep term’ in accordance with University General Regulations.
This means that they are expected to undertake work and be in attendance as required by
their lecturers. There is an account of the possible consequences of not keeping term in
the Graduate School’s publication, Guidelines for Postgraduate Research Students and
Supervisors.

13
From time to time lecturers will set problems for you to do. These are a valuable exercise
as they test your understanding of the material. At least one set of homework should be
marked by the lecturer, see below.

The Dissertation

MSc. students are expected to work on their dissertation during the Easter term and over
the summer. The length of a dissertation must be around 20,000 words (in the range 40-60
pages). It must be typed (normally using TEX or LATEX) and loosely bound. More precise
details concerning the format of the thesis are available in a document titled “Advice on
the production of a Thesis”, which can be found in the University Library. Two copies of
the thesis must be handed to the Course Director (Dr. Nabil Iqbal) by
3rd September 2021.

A list of topics which members of staff are willing to supervise will be circulated early
in the Epiphany term. With each member of staff providing one or two titles, the list
provides a wide choice. However, if you wish to investigate something different you will
have to find a member of staff willing to supervise you. Your decision on a preferred topic
and the agreement from the respective supervisor is due at
the end of week 16 (after the reading week of Epiphany).

You are encouraged to start talking to potential supervisors early in Epiphany term. The
dissertations topics/supervisors will be finally assigned in week 17.

Once you have chosen your topic/supervisor, your supervisor will provide you with infor-
mation concerning the preparation of the dissertation itself and with advise on how to
work towards its preparation. Even where there is frequent contact during the course of
the research work, it is good practice for supervisors to arrange to have regular sessions
with their students at fixed times to review the progress.

All dissertations should have an introductory chapter describing the background to the
work and the structure of the following chapters, a concluding chapter bringing together
the themes of your dissertation, and a list of references and acknowledgements. The
content of the other chapters will be very topic-dependent and the task may seem at first
extremely daunting. The following advice is sometimes found to be helpful. Think of your
task, at least to begin with, in terms of having to prepare a set of around six lectures on
your chosen topic. These ‘lectures’ should be informative and interesting and explain the
topic(s) at a level your MSc. colleagues would appreciate. Once you have explored the
literature and determined the items you will want to ‘explain’, you will probably find you
have your chapter headings and the material will be organised rationally. Your supervisor
will be able to help you with this and assure you that you are developing in a sensible
direction. Once you have the material organised you should be aiming to produce a draft
of the dissertation by the end of August and give it to your supervisor for comments.
After that you have a few weeks to finalise the thesis.

Commonly, students become fascinated by their topics and are tempted to write too much.

14
Thinking in terms of the six ‘lectures’ and what can be achieved in an hour helps to keep
the dissertation within sensible bounds.

As was mentioned before, dissertations are not expected to contain original publishable
research, but there should be evidence of creativity in the way in which you deal with the
material.

Feedback and Monitoring

Much of the contact between students and their adviser (for MSc students this is initially
the Course Director) or later, at the dissertation stage, with their supervisor, is informal.
The postgraduate students in each department have a representative on that department’s
Board of Studies (to whom the Management Committee of the MSc reports); but any
urgent problems requiring official attention should be reported in the first instance to
the Director for the degree, (Dr. Nabil Iqbal, CM240), or the adviser to postgraduate
students in the relevant department (Prof. Simon Ross in Mathematics, and Dr. Michael
Spannowsky in Physics).

In addition an MSc student representative will be on the Mathematics Department Post-

graduate Studies Committee. At least twice a year students are invited to complete
(anonymously) questionnaires about courses and other matters. Lecturers are generally
available to answer queries on their courses and students are encouraged to approach them
informally or to raise questions during lectures. Student progress is monitored through
the first two terms by informal sessions with their adviser, and at the end of each term
by that term’s examination. In addition, each lecturer will set problems for students to
try and will collect and mark work on a single occasion. Indicative results are available
very soon after each exam from the Chair of the BoE or the course director.

Assessment of the Degree

The MSc in Elementary Particle Theory consists of three compulsory modules. Your final
mark for the course is averaged from the marks achieved on the individual modules, each
of which carries the same weight.

• In order to PASS the MSc it is necessary to pass each individual module. To

pass a module you must score at least 50%.

• In order to be awarded a MERIT you must pass each module and your average mark
over the three modules must be at least 60%.

• In order to be awarded a DISTINCTION you must pass each module and your
average mark over the three modules must be at least 70%. In addition you
must score at least 70% for your dissertation.

15
Let us now discuss the assessment of each module separately.

The examination of the Michaelmas module (51160) is based on the lecture courses
given in the first term. The mark for this module is awarded on the basis of two ex-
amination papers, accounting for together 90% of the module mark, plus an element of
continuous assessment, realised through marked homework which will contribute 10% of
the total module mark. The first exam paper will examine the four courses lectured in
the first four weeks of term (QFT1, IFT, GRP and GR), and the second paper those
given in the last four weeks (QFT2, SM, QED, COS). Each paper will contain a section
A, containing one “fundamental” question for each of the four courses, and a section B
which contains one more detailed harder question for each of the four courses. The rubric
of these papers will be that full marks can be obtained by answering any three of the
questions in Section A and any two questions from Section B1 . In addition, the home-
work mark will be computed as the average homework mark for each of the Michaelmas
courses.

The examination of the Epiphany module (51260) is based on the lecture courses given
in the second term. The mark for this module is again awarded on the basis of two
examination papers, accounting for together 80% of the module mark, plus an element of
continuous assessment, realised through marked homework which will contribute 20% of
the total module mark. The first exam paper will examine the material from the courses
lectured in the first four weeks of Epiphany term (CFT, QCD, SUSY, ASTRO, COSII,
and RG) and the second paper those given in the second four weeks (FLAV, STRINGS,
AMPL, NPP, NU, and HIGGS). In both cases the exam will contain one question for each
8 hours of lectures on a given topic. The rubric of these papers will be that the best four
(for MSc students) or best five (for PhD students) of your answers to these questions
will constitue the overall mark for the exam. For this term the homework mark will be
computed as the average of the best five homeworks handed in by the student.

Due to Covid-19, the exam for Michaelmas term will be a take-home exam.
You will prepare solutions, scan or take photos of them, and submit them via a software
package called Gradescope; we will also use this for submitting homework, so you will be
able to gain some familiarity with it before the exam. The format for the Epiphany term
exam will be decided later, and you will be informed in due course.

If you fail one of the two taught modules then you may be granted the permission to take
resit exams (the mark on which will however be capped off at 50%). The resit exams,
if any are needed, would take place near the end of the Easter term 2020, tentatively
scheduled on Wednesday, June 2rd for January Paper I; Friday, June 4th for January
Paper II, Wednesday, June 9th for April Paper I; and Friday, June 11th for April Paper
II. Note that the Core Regulations stipulate that you cannot resit both modules.

The third module (51360) consists of the dissertation. The dissertation must be 40-60
pages in length (∼ 20, 000 words), and two copies of it have to be submitted to the Course
Director by 3 September at the latest. In exceptional cases, an e-mail submission in pdf
format will also be allowed.
1
Note that only the best three Section A and best two Section B marks will be taken to calculate
your overall mark; marks for any additional questions will not be taken into account.

16
The thesis is examined internally by two members of staff, and marks are moderated by
the External examiner. They will be looking for a good understanding of your topic,
evidence that you have read and digested several sources, evidence that you have tackled
the material critically and that you are able to explain it to them; they will also check
that you have given proper acknowledgements and references. Please pay heed that you
present your work in your own words – if your dissertation has too close a similarity to
an existing article, your dissertation may be assessed as plagiarised. It is expected that
the internal and external assessments will have been completed within six weeks.

Recommendations for the award of degrees are made by the Board of Examiners when
all the marks are available. The Board of Examiners may exercise discretion and take
account of special or exceptional circumstances which may have affected a candidate’s
performance and for which there is evidence. The views of the External Examiner are
particularly influential in the case of disagreement on the mark to be awarded for a
particular unit of assessment or on the final award.

Plagiarism

Along with your dissertation, you will be required to hand in a signed Plagiarism form,
which has been provided as an appendix to this handbook.

This is a serious matter, and if you’re not fully sure what might constitute plagiarism,
you are urged to consult your supervisor. In particular, note that even if you paraphrase
a given text (whether printed or on-line), you need to make sure you give the proper
reference. The safest method is to present the material fully in your own words, and
organise it in your own way as if you were giving a lecture to your peers.

Plagiarism is referred to in the General Regulations of the University:

In formal examinations and all assessed work prescribed in degree, diploma and certificate
regulations, candidates should take care to acknowledge the work and opinions of others
and avoid any appearance of representing them as their own. (For example, you should
say Einstein’s theory of relativity, to avoid the possible implication that you are claiming
to have invented it yourself.)

Unacknowledged quotation or close paraphrasing of other people’s writing, amounting to

the presentation of other person’s thoughts or writings as their own, is plagiarism and will
be penalised. In extreme cases, plagiarism may be classed as a dishonest practice under
Section IV,2.(a)(viii) of the General Regulations and can lead to expulsion.

For more information on this, see the Graduate School’s publication, Guidelines for Post-
graduate Research Students and Supervisors.

17
Core Regulations

The Core Regulations provide a basic regulatory framework for the courses offered by the
University. For our MSc they can be found at:

https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/university.calendar/volumeii/
2020.2021/coreregsmtmd.pdf

The practical consequences of these regulations have been described in the above, but it
might be worth having a look at the details in exceptional circumstances.

18
6 Description of Courses & Recommended Books

The following pages contain a brief description of the courses. They are structured in five
subject areas, namely

• Quantum Field Theory (QFT, 80 hours)

containing Introductory Field Theory (IFT), Quantum Field Theory I and II (QFTI
& QFTII), Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), and Supersymmetry (SUSY);
• General Relativity and Cosmology (GR/COS, 56 hours)
containing General Relativity (GR), Cosmology I and II (COSI & COSII), Neutrinos
(NU), and Astroparticle Physics (ASTRO);
• Gauge Field Theory (GAUGE, 64 hours)
containing Group Theory (GRP), Standard Model (SM), Renormalisation Group
(RG), Amplitudes (AMPL), and Non–Perturbative Physics (NPP)
• Superstring Theory (STRINGS, 32 hours)
containing Conformal Field Theory (CFT), and Strings and D-branes (STRINGS)
• Phenomenology (PHENO, 40 hours)
containing Strong Interactions (QCD), Higgs Phenomenology (HIGGS), and Flavour
Physics and Effective Field Theories (FLAV)

Below, the individual courses and their interplay is described, including an approximate
outline of the material and the learning outcomes. In addition, for each of these subject
areas a list of recommended books is provided.

This information together with other useful lecture materials can be found on the web at
http://www.cpt.dur.ac.uk/GraduateStudies/

There will also be some voluntary advanced topic courses in the Easter Term which are
not examined. Further details of the content of these additional courses will be published
later.

Some books that are used in a number of lectures are

• M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, “An Introduction to QFT” (Addison Wesley,1984)

• C. Itzykson and J.-B. Zuber, “Quantum Field Theory” (McGraw-Hill,1980)
• T. P. Cheng and L. F. Li, “Gauge Theory of Elementary Particles” (Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1984)
• P. Di Francesco, P. Mathieu and D. Sénéchal, “Conformal Field Theory”, Springer
(1997)
• J. Zinn-Justin, “Quantum field theory and critical phenomena” (Oxford University
Press)

19
 • R. D’Inverno, “Introducing Einstein’s Relativity” (Oxford University Press, 2003)

• J. B. Hartle, “Gravity; An Introduction to Einstein’s General Relativity” (Addison-

Wesley,2003)

Students are encouraged to try to have them on long-term loan or to buy them.

20
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY

INTRODUCTORY FIELD THEORY (24 lectures)

Prof. K. Ellis

The course is designed to meet the needs of students who have had very little exposure to
field theory, but who have a reasonable grasp of special relativity and quantum mechanics.
It provides key basic concepts and mathematical tools useful in any area of research
undertaken within the CPT. At the end of it, the serious student should have acquired
enough confidence to consult more sophisticated field theory textbooks like Weinberg or
Itzykson and Zuber. The course mainly covers Chapters 1 to 4 of Peskin and Schroeder,
supplemented with material from the field theory book by Zee and the lecture notes by
Tong. It ends with a very elementary description of some QED perturbative processes,
and a natural continuation in that direction is offered in the second term (see Quantum
Electrodynamics).

Outline of the Course

• Classical Field Theory:

Noether’s Theorem, Klein Gordon equation, Dirac Equation
• Canonical Quantisation of Free Fields
• Interaction Theory:
S-matrix, Wick’s Theorem, Feynman Rules, Transition Matrices, Decay Rates and
Cross Sections

Additional material for the Course

• M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, “An Introduction to QFT” (Addison Wesley,

1995)
• C. Itzykson and J.-B. Zuber, “Quantum Field Theory” (McGraw-Hill,1980)
• L. H. Ryder, “Quantum Field Theory” (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
• P. Ramond, “Field Theory, A Modern Primer” (Benjamin, 1994)
• S. Weinberg, “Quantum Theory of Fields”, vol I and II (Cambridge University Press,
1996)
• A. Zee, “Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell” (Princeton University Press, 2010)
• D. Tong, “Lectures on Quantum Field Theory”
(http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/qft.html)
• F. Mandl and G. Shaw, “Quantum Field Theory” (Wiley, 1984)
• L. H. Ryder, “Quantum Field Theory” (Cambridge University Press, 1996)

21
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY I & II (8+16 lectures)
Dr. M. Lemos and Dr. N. Iqbal

This course will describe some of the basic ingredients of quantum field theories in the
language of path integrals, and as such is complementary to the canonical quantisation
approach in the Introductory Field Theory course. Path integrals are first introduced in
the familiar context of quantum mechanics, before being applied to field theory where
techniques are developed to allow the calculation of scattering amplitudes in gauge theo-
ries. Most of the content of this course can be found in Peskin and Schroeder, particularly
in chapters 9, 10 and 16, although other textbooks are also useful, especially Feynman
and Hibbs for an introduction to path integral quantum mechanics.

Outline of the Course

• Path Integral Quantum Mechanics:

Derivation of path-integal formulation of quantum mechanics. Examples including
the simple harmonic oscillator. Formulation of perturbation theory, and Feynman
diagram representation. Extension to field theory.

• Green functions:
LSZ reduction formulae for scalar and Dirac fields. Green functions. Perturbation
theory and derivation of Feynman rules. Generating functionals for disconnected
and connected Green functions. Introduction to Grassmann numbers. Path integrals
for fermions. Global symmetries and Ward identities in the functional formalism.

• Renormalisation:
One-loop renormalisation of φ4 theory. General discussions of perturbative renor-
malisability. Brief discussion of regulators.

• Gauge theory:
Abelian and non-Abelian gauge invariance, Yang-Mills action. Gauge fixing by
Faddeev-Popov method, ghosts, Feynman rules.

Additional material for the Course

• R.P. Feynman and A.R. Hibbs, “Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals” (Dover
Books on Physics, 2010)

• M.E.Peskin and D.V.Schroeder “An Introduction to QFT ” (Addison Wesley, 1984)

• A. Zee, “Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell ” (Princeton University Press, 2010)

• M. Srednicki, “Quantum Field Theory” (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

22
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS (16 lectures)
Dr. M. Schönherr

The course will develop techniques for computing scattering processes at tree level and
one-loop.

The first part of the course builds on the Introduction to Quantum Field Theory course
and is concerned with the application of Feynman rules to elementary scattering processes.
The second part introduces Bremsstrahlung and loop corrections and describes how to
handle the infrared and ultraviolet divergences that are present.

Outline of the Course

• QED at tree level: Application of Feynman rules for tree-level processes in QED,
Dirac-algebra, polarisation sums, unpolarised cross sections, crossing symmetry.

• QED at one loop: UV singularities, dimensional regularisation, techniques for

evaluation of one-loop integrals, renormalisation, IR singularities.

Additional material for the Course

• M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, “An Introduction to QFT” (Addison Wesley,

1994)

• I. J. R. Aitchison and A. J. G. Hey, “Gauge theories in particle physics: A practical

introduction” (CRC Press, 1982)

• M. Kaku, “Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction” (Oxford University

Press Inc. 1994)

• C. Itzykson and J. B. Zuber, “Quantum Field Theory” (McGraw-Hill, 1980)

23
SUPERSYMMETRY (16 lectures)
Dr. B. Hoare

This course provides a basic introduction to the main motivations and ideas in Super-
symmetry (SUSY). Main topics include the SUSY algebra and its representations, super-
space and superfields, the construction of supersymmetric actions, nonrenormalization
theorems, supersymmetric gauge theories (such as SQCD and the MSSM), and SUSY
breaking.

Outline of the Course

• What is SUSY and why? Poincare and Lorentz group, spinors

• Supersymmetry algebra and on-shell representations (supermultiplets)

• 4d N=1 superspace and superfields

• SUSY field theories of chiral superfields. Holomorphy and non-renormalization the-

orems

• Vector superfields and supersymmetric gauge theories (SQCD, MSSM)

• Spontaneous SUSY breaking

Additional material for the Course

• A. Bilal, “Introduction to supersymmetry”, arXiv:hep-th/0101055

• M. F. Sohnius, “Introducing Supersymmetry”, Phys. Rep. 128 (1985)

• M. Bertolini, “Lectures on Supersymmetry”,

http://people.sissa.it/~bertmat/susycourse.pdf

• R. Argurio, “Introduction to Supersymmetry”,

http://homepages.ulb.ac.be/~rargurio/susycourse.pdf

• P. Argyres, “An Introduction to Global Supersymmetry”,

http://homepages.uc.edu/~argyrepc/cu661-gr-SUSY/index.html

• M. J. Strassler, ”An Unorthodox Introduction to Supersymmetric Gauge Theory”,

arXiv:hep-th/0309149

24
GENERAL RELATIVITY AND COSMOLOGY

GENERAL RELATIVITY (16 lectures)

Dr. A. Donos

General Relativity, Einstein’s theory of gravity, is one of the most self-contained and
elegant theories on the market; it has sometimes been viewed as somewhat disconnected
from “real physics”. However, with the rise in popularity of the superstring as a quantum
theory of the interactions of nature including gravity, the importance of its classical limit,
GR, has re-emerged. This course introduces many of the essential features of modern
gravity theory, the notion of a space-time manifold and differential geometry, and black
holes.

Outline of the Course

• Setting up differential geometry:

manifolds, vectors and tensors, abstract index notation.

• Differentiation on manifolds:
forms, Lie and covariant derivative; geodesics. The connection and curvature.

• Structure on the manifold:

fields and energy momentum. The Einstein equations.

• Solving the Einstein equations:

Black holes, gravitational waves and cosmology - exact and approximate solutions.

• Frontiers:
Gravity in higher dimensions, outlook

Additional material for the Course

• R. M. Wald, “General Relativty” (University of Chicago Press, 1984)

• S. Carroll, “Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity” (Addison-

Wesley 2003)

• J. B. Hartle, “Gravity; An Introduction to Einstein’s General Relativity” (Addison-

Wesley,2003)

• C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne, and J. A. Wheeler, “Gravitation” (Freeman, 1973)

25
COSMOLOGY I (16 lectures)
Prof. R. Alonso

This graduate course aims to give an introduction to modern cosmology. Starting from
the traditional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological solutions, we will go on to dis-
cuss present-day cosmological models for the evolution of the universe. Observational
constraints will be discussed and the inflationary scenario will be considered. Finally, an
introduction will be given to current research in particle cosmology.

Outline of the Course

• The Observed Universe: Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology (radiation,

matter and de Sitter/ accelerating universe solutions).

• Thermal history of the Universe: The standard cosmological model and its
successes.

• Confronting observation: The inflationary paradigm; late time acceleration.

Additional material for the Course

• Andrew Liddle, An Introduction to Modern Cosmology (Wiley-Blackwell 2015)

• R. D’Inverno, “Introducing Einstein’s Relativity” (Oxford University Press, 2003)

• Scott Dodelson, “Modern Cosmology” (Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2003)

• Steven Weinberg, “Cosmology ” (Oxford University Press, 2008)

• M. Trodden and S. Carroll, “TASI Lectures: Introduction to Cosmology” [astro-

ph/0401547]

26
COSMOLOGY II (8 lectures)
Prof. R. Gregory

This graduate course will discuss the latest discoveries in cosmology and how modern
observations have shaped our understanding of the Universe (evolution, content, object
formation).

Outline of the Course

• Building on the Standard Cosmological Model: the Cosmological Microwave Back-

ground and nucleosynthesis.

• Black Holes in our Universe: definition and properties of a black hole. Observing
black holes.

Additional material for the Course

• W. Hu, “Lecture Notes on CMB Theory”, arxiv:0802.3688

• W. Hu’s CMB lectures and tutorials:

http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/araa/araa.html
http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/Presentations/introduction.pdf

• S. Dodelson, “Modern Cosmology”, Academic Press, 2003.

27
NEUTRINO PHYSICS (8 lectures)
Dr. J. Turner

The aim of the course is to introduce the ideas and concepts of modern neutrino physics
and astroparticle physics. The recent observation of neutrino oscillations implies that neu-
trinos are massive and mix. This constitutes the first evidence of new Physics beyond the
Standard Model. The course will review i) the theoretical aspects of neutrino oscillations
and the present knowledge of the oscillation parameters, ii) the non–oscillation searches
for neutrinos, including neutrino less double beta decay and the issue of Majorana neutri-
nos. It will then move on to consider extensions of the Standard Model which can explain
neutrino masses and their smallness. It will also briefly cover the role of neutrinos in the
Early Universe, focusing on e.g. neutrinos as dark matter, baryogenesis and leptogenesis.

Outline of the Course

• Neutrino oscillations:
Theory, experiments, present knowledge of neutrinos and questions for the future;

• Nature of neutrinos and Neutrino masses:

Majorana versus Dirac particles, Dirac and Majorana masses, origin of neutrino
masses beyond the Standard Model;

• Neutrinos as Dark Matter:

light neutrinos as hot dark matter, sterile neutrinos as warm dark matter;

• Baryogenesis and Leptogenesis:

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, neutrinos and the Early Universe.

Additional material for the Course

• C. Giunti and C. W. Kim, “Fundamentals of Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics”

(Oxford University Press, USA, 2007);

• A. Strumia and F. Vissani, “Neutrino masses and mixings and...”, arXiv:hep-ph/0606054;

• J. Lesgourgues and S. Pastor, “Massive neutrinos and cosmology”, Phys. Rept. 429
(2006) 307 [astro-ph/0603494].

28
ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS (8 lectures)
Dr. M. Bauer

In this course we will concentrate in the problem of dark matter in the Universe, one
of the clearest hints for new Physics beyond the Standard Model. We will begin by
summarising the astrophysical and cosmological observations that evidence the need for
a new (and abundant) type of matter in the Universe that does not emit or absorb light.
Then, the production of dark matter in the Early Universe will be studied, computing
its relic abundance. We will observe that a generic massive particle with Electroweak
interactions (WIMP) can reproduce the observed dark matter density. We will then
investigate various particle physics models that can accommodate dark matter candidates.
Finally, the detection of dark matter particles will be addressed. We will describe the main
detection strategies (direct, indirect and in colliders), review the current experimental
situation and future prospects.

Outline of the Course

• Motivation for dark matter:

Rotation curves of spiral galaxies, Virial Theorem in Galaxy Clusters, Cosmological
Evidence;

• Dark matter production:

Thermal equilibrium and freeze out in the Early Universe, relic density of dark
matter, hot and cold dark matter, the WIMP paradigm;

• Dark Matter Candidates:

candidates in extensions of the Standard Model, non-WIMP candidates;

• Dark Matter Searches:

Direct detection experiments, indirect searches, dark matter in colliders.

Additional material for the Course

• E.W. Kolb and M.S. Turner “The Early Universe”, Westview Press (1994).

• G. Bertone, D. Hooper and J. Silk, “Particle dark matter: Evidence, candidates and
constraints”, Phys. Rept. 405 (2005) 279 [hep-ph/0404175].

• “Particle Dark Matter: Observations, Models and Searches”, Cambridge University

Press, Ed. G. Bertone (2010).

29
GAUGE FIELD THEORY

GROUP THEORY (12 lectures)

Dr. D. Dorigoni

This course concerns various aspects of the continuous groups which appear in High En-
ergy Physics and Conformal Field Theory. Lie groups and Algebras and their representa-
tions will be introduced with relevant examples, before turning to the general classification
of semi-simple Lie algebras provided by Dynkin diagrams.

Outline of the Course

• U(n), SO(n) and their representations

• Simple Lie groups and algebras

• The classification of semi-simple Lie algebras

• Representations: roots and weights

Additional material for the Course

• H. Georgi, “Lie Algebras in Particle Physics” (Perseus Books 1999)

• R. Cahn, “Semi Simple Lie Algebras and their Representations” (Frontiers in Physics
Series Volume 59 or http://www-physics.lbl.gov/∼rncahn/book.html )

• H. Samelson, “Notes on Lie Algebras” (Springer, 1990)

• W. Fulton and J. Harris, ”Representation Theory: A First Course” (Springer Science

& Business Media, 1991)

• J. Fuchs and C. Schweigert, “Symmetries, Lie Algebras and Representations” (Cam.

Monographs in Math. Physics)

30
THE STANDARD MODEL (16 lectures)
Prof. V.V. Khoze

The course constructs and studies the Lagrangian of the Standard Model of Glashow,
Weinberg and Salam, starting from the basic ideas of Lorentz and local gauge invariance,
building on the field and group theory courses.

Outline of Course

• Space-Time symmetries: The Lorentz and Poincaré Groups are presented con-
centrating on the representations of the groups, the existence of chiral fermions and
the construction of Lorentz invariant actions.

• Gauge theories The QED Lagrangian is extended to the case of local gauge in-
variance under non-Abelian gauge groups such as SU (2) and SU (3). A chiral gauge
theory, Glashow’s model, based on the gauge group SU (3) × SU (2) × U (1) is con-
structed.

• Spontaneous symmetry breaking, Higgs particles, Salam-Weinberg model

Local gauge invariance requires massless gauge bosons. The idea of spontaneous
symmetry breaking, giving massive vector bosons, is therefore introduced, leading
to a discussion of the Higgs mechanism. The generation of fermion masses, by
introducing Yukawa terms into the Lagrangian, is also considered.

• Beyond the Standard Model: The extension beyond the Standard Model to
Grand Unified theories (GUTs) is motivated, and the hierarchy problem which un-
fortunately results is illustrated with the minimal SU (5) GUT. The way in which
supersymmetry avoids the hierarchy problem is finally sketched.

Additional material for the Course

• M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, “An Introduction to QFT” (Addison Wesley,

1994)

• T. P. Cheng and L. F. Li, “Gauge Theory of Elementary Particles” (Oxford Uni-

versity Press, 1984)

• F. Halzen and A. D. Martin, “Quarks and Leptons” (Wiley, 1984)

• A. Signer, “Abc of SUSY (arXiv:0905.4630)

31
RENORMALISATION GROUP (8 lectures)
Dr. C. Sleight

The course introduces the concept of renormalisation group flow in quantum field theory
building on previous lessons about renormalisation in other lectures on QFT. Applications
to different field theories, including gauge theories, will be described.

Outline of the Course

• Wilson’s renormalization group. Brief review of regularisation/renormalization in

continuum QFT with examples. Introduction of Wilson’s renormalization group
using the path integral formulation of QFT. Implementation in scalar φ4 theory.

• Callan-Symanzik equation. Renormalisation conditions. Callan-Symanzik equa-

tions. Introduction of β and γ functions. Renormalisation group equations.

• Renormalisation group flow in renormalised perturbation theory. Examples in scalar

φ4 theory in different dimensions, QED, non-abelian gauge theories. Asymptotic
freedom in gauge theories.

Additional material for the Course

• M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, “An introduction to QFT” (Addison Wesley,

1994)

• J. Zinn-Justin, “Quantum field theory and critical phenomena”, (Oxford University

Press, 2002)

• K. G. Wilson and J. B. Kogut, “ The Renormalization group and the epsilon expan-
sion”, Phys. Rept.12:75-200, 1974.

32
AMPLITUDES (8 lectures)
Dr. A. Lipstein

Scattering amplitudes are the basic quantities that we need to compute to be able to
predict the outcome of scattering experiments. Feynman diagrams provide an intuitive
understanding of their structure but are exceedingly cumbersome to calculate with. Of-
ten there can be many cancellations between the diagrams that contribute to any given
amplitude, resulting in simple final expressions. Understanding the mathematics that
underlies this simplicity has recently led to remarkable advances in our ability to com-
pute the amplitudes themselves. The course aims to provide an introduction to these
techniques.

Outline of the Course

• Spinor variables: massless Dirac equation, dotted and undotted indices, helicity,
conjugation, spinor products

• Gauge theories: polarization vectors and spinors, helicity, self-duality, LSZ, gauge
fixing, colour ordering, fermions

• Gauge invariance and tree amplitudes: 3-point, 4-point, n-point all+, n-point
one

• BCFW in general, and applied to MHV amplitudes

• N=4 Super-Yang-Mills amplitudes, Gravity amplitudes (If time permits)

Additional material for the Course

• Herbi K. Dreiner, Howard E. Haber and Stephen P. Martin, “Two-component spinor

techniques and Feynman rules for quantum field theory and supersymmetry”, hep-
ph/0812.1594;

• G. ’t Hooft, “A planar diagram theory for strong interactions, Nucl. Phys. B72
(1974) 461 - 473;

• R. Britto, F. Cachazo, B. Feng and E. Witten, “Direct proof of tree-level recursion

relation in Yang-Mills theory”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 181602 [hep-th/0501052];

• Lars Brink, John H. Schwarz, J. Scherk, Nucl. Phys. B121 (1977) 77-92

• Edward Witten, “Perturbative Gauge Theory As A String Theory In Twistor Space”,

hep-th/0312171

33
NON-PERTURBATIVE PHYSICS (16 lectures)
Dr. T. Sulejmanpasic

This course is meant to be an introduction to some non-perturbative aspects of quantum

field theory. The main focus of this course will be the focus on some non-perturbative
aspects of quantum field theories, in particular gauge theories. The central theme will be
instantons and solitons which arise as classical solutions of field equations. We will discuss
topological aspects of these solutions, and classification, as well as their importance for
the physics of such theories. We will make contact with anomalies and anomaly matching
– a powerful method by which one can put constraints on low energy physics of quantum
field theories. Time permitting, we will discuss dualities in quantum field theories, and
some more advanced applications of symmetries in non-perturbative analysis of quantum
field theories.

Outline of the course.

• Non-perturbative aspects of quantum mechanics: uniqueness of ground states,

instantons and semiclassical analysis in quantum mechanics

• Soliton and instanton basics: Topology, Derrick?s theorem, Bogomolny bounds,

examples of solitons (kinks, vortices,...).

• Monopoles and instantons in gauge theories: Chern number, topology of

gauge theory instantons, θ-angle, Dirac monopoles, dyons and the Witten effect

• Anomalies and anomaly matching: meaning of anomalies, distinction between

anomalous symmetries and ’t Hooft anomalies. Descent formalism.

• Advanced topics: Use of symmetries in low-energy effective theories, Wess-

Zumino-Witten terms, Chern-Simons theory, nonlinear sigma models and large N.
Additional material for the course. Several online resources are made available
to the students during the lectures, suitably tuned to the level of the class. Some
good textbooks that covers most of the material of the course are:

– S. Coleman, Aspects of Symmetry, Cambridge University Press 1985

– N.S. Manton and P.M. Sutcliffe, Topological Solitons, Cambridge University
Press 2004
– R. Rajaraman, Solitons and instantons. An introduction to solitons and in-
stantons in quantum field theory, North-Holland, 1982
– E. Witten, Lecture on Dynamics of Quantum Field Theory from Quantum
Fields and Strings: A Course for Mathematicians edited by Deligne, P. and
Etingof, P. and Freed, D.S. and Jeffrey, L.C. and Kazhdan, D. and Morgan,
J.W. and Morrison, D.R. and Witten, Edward, The American Mathematical
Society 1999
– S. Weinberg, The Quantum Theory of Fields II, Cambridge University Press
1996

34
SUPERSTRING THEORY

CONFORMAL FIELD THEORY (16 lectures)

Dr. V. Niarchos

This course will introduce the basic concepts and methods of conformal field theory in a
pedestrian fashion, with emphasis on the very special case of two dimensions, with a view
to using these methods to derive some of the fundamental early results in bosonic string
theory.

Outline of the Course

• Conformal transformations:
definition in d dimensions; conformal Killing equation; generators and their algebra
when d 6= 2; solutions to the 2d conformal Killing equation; Mobius transformations;
algebra of local 2d conformal transformations (Witt algebra).

• Conformal invariance in classical field theory:

transformation of scalar fields; tracelessness of the energy-momentum tensor; exam-
ples of classically conformally invariant theories.

• Conformal invariance in QFT:

transformation of Green’s functions and Ward identities; constraints on Green’s
functions from conformal invariance. The 2d case: quantum conformal genera-
tors Ln ; quasi-primary, primary and secondary fields; chiral fields; state-operator
mapping; vertex operator algebra; OPE vs operator formalism; examples: minimal
models, free boson, free fermion.

• CFT methods in string theory:

conformal transformations and conformal ghosts; derivation of the bosonic critical
dimension d = 26. Vertex operators and tree amplitudes: BRST charge, bosonisa-
tion of ghosts; string scattering amplitudes.

Additional material for the Course

• J. Polchinski, “String Theory (Vols. 1 and 2)” (Cambridge University Press 1998)

• P. Di Francesco, P. Mathieu and D. Sénéchal, “Conformal Field Theory”, Springer

(1997)

35
STRING THEORY (16 lectures)
Dr. I. Garcı́a Etxebarria

This will carry on from the CFT course earlier in the Epiphany term which introduces
String Theory. We will cover the basic aspects of string theory beginning with the bosonic
string and moving on to the superstring. Focus will be on understanding the spectrum of
these theories and perturbative string interactions.

Outline of the Course

• Bosonic string:
Quantization of the bosonic string, physical state conditions, spectrum of physical
states. Chan-Paton factors for open strings.
Interactions and vertex operators.
Compactification and T-duality for the bosonic string.
D-branes, Dirac-Born-Infeld action.

• Superstrings:
Fermions, R and NS sectors. Physical state conditions, GSO projection. Spectrum
of physical states, construction of IIA, IIB, type I superstrings.
T-duality and D-branes for the superstring.

Additional material for the Course

• J. Polchinski, “String Theory (Vols. 1 and 2)” (Cambridge University Press 1998)
This will be the primary text

• M. Green, J. Schwarz and E. Witten, “Superstring theory (Vols. 1 and 2)” (Cam-
bridge University Press 1986)

• K. Becker, M. Becker and J. Schwarz, “String theory and M-theory” (Cambridge

University Press 2007)

Other Books/articles which may be of interest

• D. Tong,“String Theory”, arXiv:0908.0333

36
PHENOMENOLOGY

QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS (16 lectures)

Prof. K. Ellis

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction, one of the four
fundamental forces of nature. It describes the interactions between quarks and gluons, and
in particular how they bind together to form hadrons. In this ‘long-distance’ regime the
effective coupling is large and non-perturbative methods are appropriate. In contrast, at
short distances the coupling between quarks and gluons is small, and perturbation theory
can be used to make quantitative predictions that can be tested directly in experiment.

The course focuses on perturbative QCD and its applications in modern high-energy
physics. The course covers various phenomenological applications: e+ e− physics, which
leads to the theory of quark and gluon jets; deep inelastic scattering, where perturbative
QCD extends and refines the ideas of the original ‘naive’ parton model; and finally hadron
colliders, where QCD provides many important backgrounds to new physics and where
the ability to make precision predictions is paramount.

Outline of the Course

• Gauge invariance, Feynman rules, colour algebra, IR and UV divergences.

• Applications in high-energy collider physics: perturbative corrections and jet physics

in e+ e− annihilation;

• The parton model; hard scattering processes at present and future hadron-hadron
colliders.

Additional material for the Course

• M. E. Peskin and D. V. Schroeder, “An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory”

(Addison Wesley 1995)

• F. Halzen and A. D. Martin, “Quarks and Leptons” (Wiley, 1984)

• R. K. Ellis, W. J. Stirling, B. R. Webber, “QCD and Collider Physics”, Camb.

Monogr. Part. Phys. Nucl. Phys. Cosmol. 8 (1996)

• J. M. Campbell, J. W. Huston and W. J. Stirling, “Hard Interactions of Quarks

and Gluons: A Primer for LHC Physics”, Rept. Prog. Phys. 70 (2007) 89 [hep-
ph/0611148].

37
HIGGS PHENOMENOLOGY (8 lectures)
Prof. M. Spannowsky

The aim of the course is to introduce the ideas and concepts associated with the phe-
nomenology of the electroweak symmetry breaking post Higgs discovery, building on the
foundations given in the SM course. The course starts with a detailed pedagogical in-
troduction to electroweak symmetry breaking in the Standard Model, including gauge
boson and fermion mass generation and the resulting predictions for Higgs boson inter-
actions. The theoretical constraints on the Higgs sector coming from unitarity, and ideas
of triviality, vacuum stability and fine tuning will be reviewed.

We then survey Higgs boson decays and production mechanisms at hadron colliders. The
dominant production mechanism is gluon fusion and we will study this in depth, building
on the foundations of the QCD course.

We finish with a discussion of Naturalness to motivate Higgs physics beyond the Standard
Model. We will study two different types of extension - an effective theory that introduces
the effects of new physics at high scales through higher dimensional operators, and a model
with an additional Higgs-doublet (which is the foundation of the Minimal Supersymmetric
Standard Model).

Outline of the Course

1. The Higgs Sector in the Standard Model

2. Theoretical Constraints on the Higgs Sector – Equivalence Theorem, Unitarity, Triv-

iality, Vacuum Stability, Electroweak Precision Observables, Fine tuning

3. Higgs Decays

4. Higgs Production – Gluon Fusion at LO, Low energy effective theorem, Gluon Fusion
at NLO, Vector boson fusion

5. Beyond the Standard Model Higgs – Naturalness, Higgs boson effective theory, Two
Higgs doublet model, Supersymmetry, The Higgs portal

Additional material for the Course

1. H. E. Logan,
“TASI 2013 lectures on Higgs physics within and beyond the Standard Model,”
arXiv:1406.1786 [hep-ph].

2. L. Reina,
“TASI 2011: lectures on Higgs-Boson Physics,”
arXiv:1208.5504 [hep-ph].

38
3. S. Dittmaier et al. [LHCHXSWG],
“Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables,”
arXiv:1101.0593 [hep-ph].

4. S. Dittmaier, et al. [LHCHXSWG],

“Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions,”
arXiv:1201.3084 [hep-ph].

5. S. Heinemeyer et al. [LHCHXSWG],

“Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 3. Higgs Properties,”
arXiv:1307.1347 [hep-ph].

39
FLAVOUR PHYSICS AND EFFECTIVE FIELD THEORIES (16 lectures)
Dr. B. Pecjak

Flavour physics observables can provide crucial constraints on extensions of the standard
model (SM). Moreover the phenomenon of CP violation, which is supposed to be the
key for the understanding of the existence of matter in the universe, was until now only
observed in flavour transitions. For any meaningful interpretation of flavour data an
understanding of the corresponding SM contribution is mandatory. The general concept
of effective theories is also the basis of the theoretical framework for describing hadron
decays. The essential premise of effective theories is that dynamics at low energies (or
large distances) does not depend on the details of the dynamics at high energies (or short
distances). As a result, low energy physics can be described using an effective Lagrangian
that contains only a few degrees of freedom, ignoring additional degrees of freedom present
at higher energies. In this lecture course several examples of effective theories relevant for
flavour physics will be discussed in detail.

Outline of Course

• Flavour phenomenology

• Fermi theory of weak interactions

• The effective Hamiltonian

• The heavy quark expansion (HQE)

• The heavy quark effective theory (HQET)

Additional material for the Course

• A. Manohar, M. Wise, “Heavy Quark Physics” (Cambridge, 2000)

• H. Georgi, “Weak Interactions and Modern Particle Theory” (Dover Pubn Inc, 2009)

• A. Buras, “Weak Hamiltonian, CP violation and rare decays” arXiv: hep-ph/9806471

• A. Pich, “Effective field theory: Course” arXiv: hep-ph/9806303

40
OPTIONAL COURSE

INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING (8 lectures)

Dr. B. Pecjak

Computers are the tool of choice when solving highly complex problems as well as present-
ing results of the latter. The aim of this course is to give an overview of basic computing
concepts commonly used in the scientific community that enable an efficient use of re-
sources as well as automation of repetitive tasks.

Outline of Course

• Linux and Bash (working with a terminal)

• Python (numerical tasks and data presentation)

• Latex (efficient type setting for publication quality)

• Working remotely and in groups (ssh and repositories)

41
A Plagiarism form

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Plagiarism
The General Regulations of the University, Section VIII(D), state that “In formal examinations and all
assessed work prescribed in degree, diploma and certificate regulations, candidates should take care to
acknowledge the work and opinions of others and avoid any appearance of representing them as their own.
Unacknowledged quotations or close paraphrasing of other people’s writing, amounting to the presentation
of other persons’ thoughts or writings as one’s own, is plagiarism and will be penalised. In extreme cases,
plagiarism may be classed as a dishonest practice under Section IV, 5(a)(x) of the General Regulations and
may lead to expulsion.”

I ..................................................................................................................... (name) undertake that all assessed

work to be submitted for my degree will be a result of my own work except where group project work is
involved. In the case of a group project, the work will be prepared in collaboration with other members of
the group. In all other cases material from the work of others not involved in the assessment will be
acknowledged and quotations and paraphrases suitably indicated. I authorise the uploading of my work
onto a plagiarism detection system, at the discretion of the Department of Mathematical
Sciences/Physics, if plagiarism is suspected or for routine screening of work for plagiarised text.

I also undertake not to submit the same piece of work (or two substantially similar pieces of work) for
assessment in two different modules, whether both modules are in the Department of Mathematical
Sciences/Physics or one module is in another department.

Departmental IT Facilities
The University Regulations for the Use of University IT Facilities are contained in Section XIII of the
General Regulations of the University. These University Regulations allow for additional regulations to be
specified by academic departments. I understand that the Department of Mathematical Sciences/Physics
will treat unauthorised attempts by students to gain access (by ‘hacking’ or otherwise) to departmental IT
systems (including, but not limited to, departmental administrative and teaching-related databases) as an
infringement of the University’s IT and Discipline regulations and therefore might ultimately result in
expulsion from the University, if the matter were referred to Senate Discipline Committee.

Attendance Requirements
The General Regulations of the University, Section V, state that “students shall, as required by the regulations
governing the degree or other programme or module for which they are registered:
(i) attend courses of instruction in the University in each of the subjects required to the satisfaction of
the Heads of Departments or Schools responsible for those subjects;
(ii) fulfil all academic obligations, including registration and those obligations defined (in the relevant
module outline as published in either the Faculty Handbook or Postgraduate Module catalogue as
appropriate) as being required to demonstrate academic progress in the modules for which they are
registered to a standard satisfactory to the Heads of Departments or Schools responsible for the
subjects.”

I undertake to abide by the above regulation. I understand that specific information about the attendance
requirements of my Mathematical Sciences/Physics modules, and the potential consequences of not meeting
my compulsory obligations, are stated for my information on the departmental web site and that it is my
responsibility to make myself aware of them.

Signed: ....................................................................... Date: ..................................

42